-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- You knew Tony Soprano from the small things .

The way he chewed his cigar in the opening credits of `` The Sopranos . '' The way he shuffled to get his newspaper , sloppily clad in a white bathrobe . The way his voice changed , from a schmooze to a bark , when he talked to his psychiatrist .

The way he killed .

James Gandolfini was a master of the small things .

`` I remember telling him many times : ` You do n't get it . You 're like Mozart , ' '' David Chase , who created `` The Sopranos , '' said in a statement .

Gandolfini died Wednesday night while on vacation in Italy . He was 51 . The cause of death was not announced but was believed to be a heart attack .

Before `` The Sopranos , '' Gandolfini -- a one-time truck driver and bartender who did n't turn to acting until he was in his mid-20s -- was a well-regarded character actor on stage and screen .

He had a small role in the 1992 Broadway revival of `` A Streetcar Named Desire '' with Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange , and appeared in such films as the Quentin Tarantino-written `` True Romance '' -LRB- 1993 -RRB- , `` Get Shorty '' -LRB- 1995 -RRB- and `` A Civil Action '' -LRB- 1998 -RRB- . Though his roles were limited , he invested them with beauty and invention .

But he appeared destined for a career as the supporting actor until `` The Sopranos '' came along .

`` The Sopranos '' was TV on a knife 's edge . The HBO show , which put the cable network on the map for original material , could have been farce , could have been tragedy , could have been slasher film or kitchen-sink drama or gangster-movie parody . And , in fact , it was all these things , held together on screen by Gandolfini as woebegone Mafia chief -LRB- or was that `` waste management professional '' ? -RRB- Tony Soprano .

Tony Soprano was an unusual protagonist , especially for a television show : a violent , brutal mob boss , a beleaguered patriarch , a calculating businessman . It was as if `` The Godfather 's '' Sonny , Vito and Michael Corleone had been combined into one hulking bear of a figure .

It could have been otherwise .

Opinion : Gandolfini 's gift to television -- and America

Gandolfini was one of three finalists for the role , Alan Sepinwall observed in his terrific TV history , `` The Revolution Was Televised . '' He was chosen because , Chase said , `` the show I envisioned is the show that 's got Jimmy in it . It 's a much darker show with Jimmy in it . ''

`` At one time , I had said that this thing could be like a live-action ` Simpsons , ' '' Chase told Sepinwall . `` Once I saw him do it , I thought , ` No , that 's not right . It can be absurdist , it can have a lot of stupid s *** in it , but it should not be a live-action ` Simpsons . ' ''

In fact , what it became was the best-written show in TV history , according to a recent survey by the Writers Guild of America . Many episodes were as rich as novels , or as finely wrought as a good short story .

Writing , however , will only take you so far ; you need actors to inhabit those characters . And with Gandolfini , Edie Falco , Michael Imperioli , Lorraine Bracco and so many more , `` The Sopranos '' gave life to the scripts .

Fans can pick their favorites , but two episodes stand out for Gandolfini 's performances . One , `` Whitecaps , '' includes a scene between him and Falco -LRB- as Tony 's wife , Carmela -RRB- that was as raw and painful as watching an argument between your parents . -LRB- If the pair had ever starred in `` Who 's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? '' , ticket-sellers could have made a fortune . -RRB- The other , `` Join the Club , '' features an out-of-body experience in which Tony -- in a coma -- imagines he 's an optics salesman named Kevin Finnerty . Here , Gandolfini drops Tony 's New Jersey accent and with it , his tough-guy veneer . He 's suddenly reasonable , open , somehow brighter .

Special effects foreman : `` So long , paisan ''

It 's easy to confuse actors with their most famous roles ; with this one episode , Gandolfini showed that he was no more Tony Soprano than he was Kevin Finnerty , but that he was playing them . Brilliantly .

`` If anything , Gandolfini often took things further than Chase had planned , '' Sepinwall wrote . In the pilot , a scene `` called for Tony to slap Christopher -LRB- Imperioli -RRB- lightly across the face ; instead , Gandolfini picked up the smaller Imperioli to make his displeasure clear . ''

-LRB- He worked to get himself into Tony 's frame of mind , Gandolfini told `` Inside the Actors Studio , '' as noted in The New York Times ' obituary . He 'd stay up all night , put a rock in his shoe . `` It 's silly , but it works , '' he said . -RRB-

`` The Sopranos '' gave Gandolfini fame and wealth ; he got in a contract dispute before the fifth season , eventually winning a contract worth around $ 13 million , according to a Variety report at the time . But instead of pursuing Hollywood leading roles , he immersed himself in his craft and his interests . He played a general in `` In the Loop '' and the CIA director in `` Zero Dark Thirty , '' neither role showy or outsized . He starred in the Broadway production of `` God of Carnage '' and was nominated for a Tony . He produced documentaries about wounded soldiers .

Galdolfini left his mark on New Jersey

Among his last roles was in Chase 's little-seen `` Not Fade Away , '' which came out last year . In it , Gandolfini plays another New Jersey sad sack , this one a 1960s grocer failing to connect with his rock 'n' roll-besotted son . He could have played the part as a `` Great Santini '' - like martinet , or a befuddled softie , or an ignorant suburban climber . Instead , he manages to fill it with grace notes , amused one minute , frustrated the next , finally a loving father quietly handing his son some money as the boy prepares to drive away . He was a complicated , three-dimensional figure , and he gave the movie unexpected depth .

Gandolfini will almost certainly be best remembered for Tony Soprano , his role of a lifetime . It 's a shame that lifetime was so brief . The master of the small things left a legacy that looms large .

From the mouth of Tony Soprano : Best quotes

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James Gandolfini had the role of a lifetime as Tony Soprano

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His performance made the character both darker and more relatable at once

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Gandolfini 's nuanced acting made even his smaller roles shine